book stuff, event stuff, illustration stuff and, er, other stuff

Remember when I said that my first picture book, Blown Away, was coming out at some point early next year? Well, the publication date has just been brought forward to September. This is very exciting for me. I might actually get to hold an actual printed copy of my actual book before the schools break up for the summer holidays.

The turnaround has been pretty quick.

The story was written last September,

sketched out in October,

signed by HarperCollins in November,

artworked in January,

proofed in February,

taken to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in March,

tweaked in April

and sent off to be printed and bound last week.

Along the way I’ve met lots of very talented people and I’m incredibly lucky to be working with the HarperCollins team behind the Judith Kerr, David Walliams and Oliver Jeffers books. Rachel, Lydia (editors) and James (art director) have brought so much to the party and improved Blown Away no end. We’re all really pleased with how it’s turned out.

The HC rights team have been working very hard too and I’m proud to say that we already have publishing deals confirmed in the states (HarperCollinsUS), France (Éditions Milan), Germany (Diogenes) and Holland (Gottmer). I think the British version gets sent to Australia so hopefully my family down under will also be able to pick up a copy soon.

All told, the last six months or so have been amazing, if slightly surreal. I still can’t quite believe that in a few months time I’ll be able to walk into any Waterstones and pick up a book with my name on the cover.